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From the Bombing of Warsaw to the London Blitz

1. Unfortunate Poland

On the 1st of September 1939, at 4.45 am, Hitler invaded Poland. World War Two had begun. For the Polish commanders this was no surprise attack. Their General Staff had known for months that Germany was getting ready to invade them.

They were also perfectly well aware that Germany was much stronger than them, but they felt that their situation was not entirely hopeless, because they could rely on the support of two important partners, the British Empire and the French Republic. In 1939 both were global powers with vast colonial empires. In the wake of World War One they had taken on the responsibility to act as guarantors of the world order emerging from that conflict.